A team of medical researchers up at the University of Calgary in Alberta has spent the last six years working on a remarkable "4D" hologram system called CAVEman. Combining data from CT scans, X-rays, biopsies and other medical tests, it creates a gigantic, realistic model of a patient's body. It's supposed to help doctors see "the big picture" by combining as much data as possible and blowing it up to gigantic size. In a word, it's awesome. But they've got even bigger plans brewing.

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The next step for CAVEman is to allow doctors to actually reach inside of the holograms and actually feel the tissues and compare densities. They also want to add organ sounds. Eventually, they want to be able to create patient-specific models to help explain things to patients visually. It's downright remarkable. Let's see this technology brought over to the world of video games, OK? Now that would be a useful application of technology, not this medicine mumbo jumbo. [CAVEman via Washington Post via Book of Joe]